Coleen Patricia Nolan (born 12 March 1965) is an English singer, television presenter and author, best known as the youngest member of the girl groupThe Nolans, in which she sang with her sisters, and for being a panelist on the chat show Loose Women from 2000 to 2011, and then from October 2013 on.

As a member of The Nolans, she first performed on television in 1974. She was a full-time member of the group from 1980 to 1994. The group was particularly successful in Japan, where they won the Tokyo Music Festival in 1981 and a Japanese Grammy (Tokubetsu Kakiku Sho) in 1992. She was a member of the line-up that reformed for a successful tour of the UK and Ireland in 2009.

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The Nolans made their television debut in 1974 on the show It's Cliff Richard. With the line-up featuring all six sisters and billed as The Nolan Sisters, they performed Stuck on You. That same year, they released their debut single But I Do, with Coleen singing lead vocals. Due to her age, Coleen would not become a full-time member of the group until 1980, when she was fifteen, although she does appear in the music video to their 1979 hit I'm In the Mood for Dancing, which reached number three in the UK singles chart. They also had UK top twenty hits with, Don't Make Waves (1980), Gotta Pull Myself Together (1980), Who's Gonna Rock You (1981), Attention to Me (1981), Chemistry (1981) and Don't Love Me Too Hard (1982). In 1981, they won the Tokyo Music Festival with the song Sexy Music. In 1992, the group won a Japanese Grammy (Tokubetsu Kakiku Sho award) for best foreign recording artists.

Four of The Nolans (Bernie, Coleen, Linda and Maureen) reformed in 2009 for a UK tour to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of I'm in the Mood for Dancing.[2]

On 5 February 1974, Nolan made her first television appearance with her sisters when she was almost nine years old, as the Nolans appeared on the It's Cliff Richard! television series.[3] On 14 January 1987, she appeared alongside her sisters Anne, Bernie and Maureen in the BBC sitcom Filthy Rich & Catflap.[4]

In 2000, Nolan became a regular panellist on ITV's Loose Women. She remained with the series on and off for eleven years (taking a break to have and care for daughter Ciara).

On 16 March 2011, Nolan announced she would be leaving Loose Women after 11 years on the show,[5] she made her last appearance as a panellist on 28 July 2011.[6] On 7 October 2013, Nolan returned as a regular panellist.[7]

Between 2001 and 2002, Nolan co-presented This Morning on ITV, with John Leslie, on a rota basis with Fern Britton on Monday and Friday mornings.[8] Nolan was initially signed up to co-present with former model Twiggy, who was sacked after working on the show for only a month.

In April 2009, Nolan presented the programme, The Truth About... Eternal Youth about plastic surgery on ITV.

In 2000, Nolan played the part of Janelle Cooper in the short comedy film, Rattler.[10]

Beginning on 11 January 2009, Nolan took part in the fourth series of Dancing on Ice on ITV. Of her appearance on the show Nolan said, "I've never really skated. When I was 14, I used to go to Disco Beat in Blackpool with my friend. We'd skate round once, hanging on to each other, and spend the rest of the night posing, like 14-year-old girls do. I could only go forwards, I couldn't stop!"[11] She was eliminated in week ten, finishing in fourth place.

Nolan co-hosted the spin-off show Dancing on Ice Friday with Ben Shephard on ITV.[12]

On 7 January 2003, Nolan appeared in the documentary We Are Family that chronicled the success stories of various musical acts that were made up of family members.[21] In 2002 and 2003, she was a panellist on the chat show The Wright Stuff on Five and guest hosted the show herself in 2013.[20]

In 2007, Nolan featured in television advertisements for the supermarket chain Iceland, along with her sister Bernie and former Loose Women colleague Kerry Katona. She appeared in further commercials for Iceland during the next couple of years.

Nolan was the new face of Park Christmas Savings and appeared in their television advertisements in December 2010.

Nolan was born and brought up in Blackpool to Irish parents, Colleen is the youngest of eight children and the only one born in England. She married Shane Richie in 1990, and they had two sons, Shane Roche Jr (born 2 December 1988) and Jake Roche (born 16 September 1992) together before splitting up in 1997[25] and divorcing in 1999.[citation needed] She gave birth to a daughter, Ciara, on Tuesday 19 June 2001 and became engaged to her longtime boyfriend Ray Fensome (a musician who is from Leeds)[11] when he proposed on her 40th birthday in 2005. They married in November 2007.[citation needed]

Nolan has gained media attention at times for controversial statements and opinions. In 2005, on Loose Women she claimed that if her 16-year-old son passed his exams then she would pay for him to go on a sex trip to Amsterdam and that she had given her fiancé Ray Fensome permission to have a one-night stand during the proposed trip. She was criticised by Shane Richie, who said he was "disgusted and appalled" by her comments about their son, and that he hoped and assumed "it was said in total jest. I can assure everyone that having passed his GCSEs fingers crossed Shane Jr will not be going to Amsterdam". English doctor and author Miriam Stoppard said of Nolan's comments, "the world's gone insane" and claimed that Nolan seemed to be shirking her responsibilities to deliver sex education. However, Nolan defended her comments saying that she had told her son that she would pay for a long weekend for him anywhere in the world and that he had mentioned how he and his mates had "always wanted to go to Amsterdam to see the red light district. If he planned to go on a trip to Ibiza everybody would have thought that was fine, even though he would probably have unprotected sex with lots of girls."[25][28] In the News of the World newspaper she said, "In an ideal world I'd never condone my son sleeping with hookers, but it's a fact of life that boys of his age have casual sex. So if I'm pushed, I'd rather he does it somewhere well-policed and where the girls have health checks than behind the wall of a club in Ibiza with absolutely no safeguards." And added about her comments about Fensome, "In all honesty, I couldn't care less [if he does]. What bothers me more is the thought of Ray going into a bar, chatting up a really stunning girl, having sex with her, spending the night and waking up with her the next morning. I couldn't cope with that."[29]

In January 2007, Nolan courted further controversy when, during a debate on Loose Women about gay adoption, she stated that gay people should not be allowed to adopt children,[30] and said that "there's only so much I want to accept".[31][32] In May 2015, she sparked outrage from viewers by comparing gay rights with supporting ISIS and by saying that bakery owners should be permitted to discriminate against same-sex couples who wish to buy a wedding cake. Her comments were made on Loose Women after a Belfast bakery company was successfully sued for discriminating against a gay customer. Following the show, viewers took to Twitter and called for ITV to fire Nolan for making the comments.[33][32][34]